Episode 111 of the podcast features the nerds in what the TAG Network likes to call a “3 Way Dance”. No 4th chair this week. CT, Jeeg and I gather to discuss a topic that we haven’t done since WAY back in episode 4; Guilty Displeasures.

Guilty Displeasures; things we think we should love, but don’t. Expect us to discuss things like Mt Dew flavor extensions, comic books, zombies, peppermint and lots more. So come join us for some fun in discovering things that we all hate.

Brian’s new assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers this week is to photograph something green. Well, I have a Flickr stream chock full of green items. So, instead of showing you just one, I’m going to showcase an entire collection of green from my Flickr stream. Soda, candy, milk. It’s all represented. Enjoy.

Countdown to Avengers is a blog crossover between Nerd Lunch, To The Escape Hatch and the Cavalcade of Awesome. Together we are reviewing all of the solo Avengers movies as well as some of the comics and cartoons. It’s all leading up to the release of The Avengers on May 4 where we will all review the new movie.

So, by this point we have talked about our thoughts on most, if not all, of the movies that lead up to The Avengers. Now, I want to look at some of the ancillary promotions for The Avengers. I’m “the soda guy” of the group so I’m a complete sucker for any big pop culture movie/soda promotion (see my write ups on Star Wars soda promotions here, here and here). So today, I’m going to discuss the big Marvel soda promotions that have happened from all of the Marvel movies including Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and the upcoming The Avengers. Unfortunately, there were no soda promotions for the original Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk in 2008. So, let’s start with the current Avengers promotion going on with Dr Pepper.

Currently, Dr Pepper has a promotion called “Assemble the Team”. The promotional packaging is starting to show up en mass at retail locations everywhere. The promotion consists of 8 collector cans featuring the principles of The Avengers (Nick Fury, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Hulk) as well as one can featuring the film’s villain (Loki). Here’s an official picture of the set.

The promotion is spread among the four main Dr Pepper brands. The character/brand breakdown (as shown in the right image above, click to make bigger) looks like this:

The other day, I took a look at the 1999 Pepsi Star Wars Episode I collector cans. At the same time as the collector cans, Pepsi also put Star Wars characters on their bottles. They were the same characters that are on the cans, but the bottles included soda flavors not involved in the can promotion. And only one character per flavor.

Here are the main Pepsi Star Wars character bottles.

This is the regular Pepsi and Pepsi One bottle labels. Anakin was on all the Pepsi bottles as he was the #1 character can. C3PO was the only one on Pepsi One bottles and he was also on the Pepsi One cans.

These are the Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew bottles featuring Queen Amidala and Darth Maul. They both were also on those respective cans.

Diet Mt Dew and Wild Cherry Pepsi were not a part of the collector can promotion. Padme was originally on Diet Pepsi cans and Capt Panaka was on Mountain Dew cans.

Episode 19 is out for those following along. This week we are again joined by Shawn Robare from Branded in the 80s. this week the guys and I discuss a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Soda.

As you know, I talk about soda A LOT on this blog. I’m a big soda enthusiast so this is a fun episode for me. We don’t touch on the big topics like New Coke or Crystal Pepsi in any type of depth, but we do mention them. Honestly, discussing those two soda disasters could take an entire episode on its own. But we discuss many other sodas. We talk about our personal favorites, some favorites that have been cancelled as well as a nice discussion on the availability of Coke and Pepsi (or non-availability) in restaurants.

Anyway, it seems that the Monkey Goggles website has stopped updating. There haven’t been any new articles for the last year or so (since editor Geoff Carter left). So, like Shawn, I decided to archive my articles here before they are swallowed by the Internet. Today, you are looking at the first all-new article I wrote for the site. It’s about failed soda.

The Cola Wars of the ’80s and ’90s really brought about a lot of competitive creativity between Pepsi and Coke (and to a lesser degree, 7-Up). They threw whatever soda flavor they could conceive of against the wall to see what would stick. Some worked (Cherry Coke, Mountain Dew Code Red), and some blew up in their faces like a novelty cigar (New Coke, Crystal Pepsi).

Instead of marveling at the thrills of victory, let’s wallow in the agony of their failures. Here’s a list of some of the most spectacular soda failures from the long history of the Cola Wars.

New Coke – No list like this one is complete without mentioning the Godfather of all soda failures. Released in 1985, New Coke caused the collective soda-drinking world to lose its damn mind. Coke drinkers actually tried to levy a class action lawsuit against Coke for releasing the new formula. (Seriously.)

It was a fiasco. Coke was forced to bring back Coke Classic not three months after releasing New Coke. After the return of Classic Coke, New Coke was re-branded Coke II and then died a slow death in 1992. The “Classic” moniker still exists on the can to this day. (Read a more complete history of New Coke here).

Crystal Pepsi – Apparently Pepsi wanted in on all the hate mail and lawsuits Coke got for New Coke. So they decided that they too would try something new. In 1992, Crystal Pepsi was released with great fanfare, including a high-profile commercial during that year’s Super Bowl.

Unfortunately, Crystal Pepsi failed to live up to expectations. A clear cola that didn’t have a lemon-lime taste frightened and confused the soda-drinking public. It became more a novelty than a soda to be taken seriously. Many people don’t remember, though, that for its first year Crystal Pepsi sold well enough to grab an 11% market share (and caused Coke to release the next item on this list). After that banner year, however, the bottom dropped out and Crystal Pepsi’s sales plummeted.

As a last ditch effort, Pepsi reformulated Crystal Pepsi with a lemon-lime flavor and re-branded it as Crystal by Pepsi. Too little, too late.

TaB Clear – Coke released this clear soda in 1992 after the strong first year sales of Crystal Pepsi. After the clear soda crash that same year, it was quickly discontinued.

OK Soda – In 1992, Coke decided to try something new and released this less carbonated, more fruity soda with anunconventional marketing campaign. Fliers, soda “manifestos” and “underground” phone numbers with voicemail were used to target the youth market. This tactic was definitely different, but it backfired as the targeted audience realized it was being marketed what executives at Coke believed to be an “edgy” soft drink. After poor sales, OK Soda was discontinued in 1993.

Back in March I mentioned that Pepsi was re-releasing the original Mt Dew Pitch Black to store shelves this Memorial Day. I was surprised they weren’t going to do it for Halloween, but whatever, that means we get Pitch Black back into our lives and there’s nothing more important than having that Black Grapey goodness back inside me.

Well, you may have heard the girlish screams coming from Jacksonville this weekend, because I found brand new 12 packs of the 2011 Pitch Black.

As a matter of fact, I’m drinking one of them right now. And it’s delicious. It tastes exactly as I remember. Mt Dew citrus + black grape = toe curling awesomeness. And the design of the 12 pack/cans are nearly identical to the original release. Pepsi really only updated the logo. Check it out compared to the original Pitch Blacks I and II (left to right).

I love that they kept the design of the can so close to the original. Even including the silver Limited Edition label.

I thought I would let another, possibly more impartial, person taste the new drink to see if it is, in fact, still tasty. In a bid for parent of the year, I decided the impartial judge will be my 8 month old son, PJ. He was certainly up to the task and tore into the can like he was Teen Wolf and Pitch Black was a can of beer.

I’m sure Pepsi will be thrilled that they passed the “8 month old boy” taste test with flying colors.

Like I said, it tastes awesome and I look forward to finishing my 12 pack. I’m going to stock up on these like a case of fine French Bordeaux because I don’t know how long they’ll be around. Maybe Pepsi plans on re-releasing Pitch Black II later in the year? We’ll see. Hopefully Pitch Black can be an annual release every year much like Cranberry Sierra Mist (which is also awesome).